Gov't, ruling party smeared in public perception: Zahid

KUALA LUMPUR: Public perception on the government and ruling party has been smeared with negativity, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Stating this, Ahmad Zahid, who is the Umno vice-president, said the situation was due to the failure of pro-government cybertroopers to shape the thinking of the masses and fend off attacks coming from pro-opposition media.
He said based on studies conducted by academicians, the negative perception among the public towards the government currently stands at 87%.
"The perception towards us is too negative. The perception towards Umno, Barisan Nasional, the government and the leadership is negative," he said in his speech at the launching of Wanita Umno Information and Media Squad at Putra World Trade Centre.
Ahmad Zahid lamented that the government is at a disadvantage due to the domination of anti-government or anti-establishment cybertroopers in moulding the public's perception online.
Quoting a study on new media penetration, Ahmad Zahid said only 6.6% of cybertroopers were in support of the government, with a ratio of 1 against 15 existing cybertroopers.
"The other 93.4% of cybertroopers has reduced our capability ... For each of ours (cybertrooper), there are 15 more out there going against us," he said.
"This is the reality. If we are still using the conventional system, there will not be any transformation happening as public thinking has moved to a new system," he added.
 
Ahmad Zahid said neglecting the importance of new media has cost Barisan Nasional to almost lose the government in the 12th and 13th general elections.
"The 14th General Election is coming. We do not know when but it will arrive. Therefore, we must make change of our medium and our method of communications," he said.
"Today's war is dominated by perception. Any group able to change the thinking (of public) through the perception war will emerge as a winner," he added.
He also said that lessons could be learned from the election campaign of the newly-minted US president Donald Trump for the utilisation of social media to win public support.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Zahid said the role of women in Malaysia would be empowered as the country is progressing to achieve the vision of National Transformation 2050.
He added the effort to strengthen the role of women must be done now so that all of the targets and plans set by the government would be achieved by 2050.
"When the time arrives, we might have a female prime minister or even a female mentri besar, with more than 30% representation of women in the Parliament and state assemblies," he said.